Dean addresses workplace leaders

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Reggie Gilyard, Chapman University's business dean, shared his recipe for creating a winning workplace Wednesday night and cited an Irvine company that takes a novel approach to handing out executive bonuses.

Gilyard noted that
Carpenter & Co., a private equity firm, singles out top performers at the end of each year and then splits each bonus into two checks. One is for the employee. The other goes to the employee's spouse.

“I just thought that was an amazing thing that I'd never heard before in all my days of traveling the country and the world, and I also thought, thank God my wife is not here hearing this right now,” quipped Gilyard, the keynote speaker at the Orange County Register's Top Workplaces awards.

More than 450 business owners and employees attended the annual event held at the City National Grove in Anaheim to honor 100 Orange County companies. The rankings are based on responses from employees.

Gilyard noted that creating a great work environment is what really drives competitive advantage, but “it's really hard to get right.” The dean drew from his experiences as a partner at
The Boston Consulting Group and time he's spent talking with the Orange County business community.

To create a top workplace Gilyard said a business should:

Hire people who reinforce the company's culture.

Hold everyone accountable for doing a great job.

Measure workforce satisfaction.

Combine performance evaluations with training and development.

Treat employees like they are the organization's most important assets

On the move

Edwards Lifesciences Corp., a heart-valve manufacturer based in Irvine, selected Scott B. Ullem as the new corporate vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds Thomas M. Abate, who announced his retirement in May. Ullem previously served as vice president and CFO at
Bemis Co. He joins Edwards in January.

Greg Valenzuela joined
FieldConnect Inc., an Irvine firm that makes software for mobile workforces, as director of development. He previously worked as a senior manager at
Western Digital Corp.

Iteris Inc., a Santa Ana-based developer of traffic management software, appointed Walter “Chuck” McBride chief financial officer. He previously served in that role at
Capstone Turbine Corp.,
Synthetic Genomics and most recently,
SRS Labs.

New ventures

The first
Wienerschnitzel stand, where the Irvine-based hot dog chain got its start, is now an official historical landmark. The Los Angeles City Council declared the drive-thru a city landmark this week. The structure, still a working Wienerschnitzel near Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington, was built in 1961.

Banc of California, a business bank and home lender based in Irvine, raised $20 million in capital by selling 1.5 million shares of its stock to funds managed by private equity firm
Patriot Financial Partners. The deal is expected to close Dec. 10.

USA Climbing, the national governing body for the sport of competition climbing, selected the Santa Ana-based
Sender One gym to host its 2014 Sport Climbing Series Open National Championships in April. Climber Chris Sharma, who opened the Sender One climbing gym this year, will compete in the contest for the first time since 2009.

Connexus Equity Management Partners LLC opened in Newport Beach as a capital investment and advisory services company. The firm's founding partners are Ken Neeld, Robert Henderson, Ryan Kaneshiro, Roger Bruce, Mike Massari and David Sunderland. The company provides growth capital and management advice to early-stage companies.

Community Orthopedic Medical Group completed a $2.1 million renovation of the group's 8,000-square-foot building in Mission Viejo.
Stillman Wright Architects and
Stephens Construction and Development installed a new elevator, moved the physical therapy department and relocated the Magnetic Resonance Imaging suite from an adjacent building.

Coming up

HireLive is holding a free career fair for experienced job seekers on Dec. 12 in Santa Ana. Attendees are encouraged to bring at least 15 résumés. Professional attire is required, but preregistration is not. The fair is 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Embassy Suites, Orange County Airport North, at 1325 East Dyer Road. Visit
hirelive.com for details.

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